Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 32, Number 6, 1 June 2015 — 12 selected Native Hawaiian Artist Fellowships [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

12 selected Native Hawaiian Artist Fellowships

$10,000 awards made possible with OHA support

By Lurline McGregor The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation selected 12 awardees for its inaugural 2015 NACF Native Hawaiian Artist Fellowships, supported in part through funding from OHA. The fellowships recognize exceptional Native Hawaiian artists who have made a significant impact in the fields of visual arts, dance, music and traditional arts. The Vancouver, Washington-based foundation has been awarding grants since 2010 to established and emerging native artists through its national fellowship program. "In order to insure there's more representation and more support in different regions, we find partners in that region to leverage our funding," says Lulani Arquette, a Native Hawaiian and the NACF president and CEO. "This year, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Rose Freeman Family Fund at the Hawai'i Community Foundation made this special Native Hawaiian Fellowship programpossible." The 12 artists were eaeh awarded $10,000. There were more than 150 applications from Hawai'i and the U.S. continent. "What stood out to me was the number of quality applications. Most of the artists are midcareer and have been practicing their art for a number of years, yet there was a wide age range among them," says Arquette. "Our national awards are unrestricted in how the fellowships ean be used, but for these regional awards, artists

must do a project, whieh ean be a new or ongoing project." Kaui Kanaka'ole is the kumu hula of Hālau o Nakaulakuhikuhi, whieh she started three years ago in her home of Hāna, Maui. Kanaka'ole had received a sponsorship from OHA last year to travel to Hawai'i Island onee a month to interview her aunt, Nalani Kanaka'ole, about her creative process in choreography and costuming for her hālau, Hālau o Kekuhi. Besides wanting to incorporate her aunt's mana'o, or ideas, into her own teaching, Kanaka'ole is also sharing the information through a book she is writing. "I have three more chapters to write, and this

grant will allow me to finish writing and editing the book this year," she says. Maika'i Tubbs of O'ahu just eamed a master's of fine arts degree at Parsons the New School for Design in New York City. "When I moved to New York City I started thinking about what my ancestors would do if they were here, in the middle of New York City trying to live off the land," says Tubbs. "They would look at the trash and they would figure out what they could do with it, how to use it as a resource. That's what Native Hawaiian ingenuity is, instead of going to Walmart to buy what I need, how ean

I make it? In Hawaiian culture you take the time to learn how to do something. It's about the craft, the love and care you put into making something, learn it correctly, do it over and over until you perfect it. I'm interested in learning how to make what I need." Tubbs plans to work with Sustainable Coastlines Hawai'i, whieh has been a huge inspiration to him, to gather volunteers to clear coastlines of debris and turn the trash into a community art project. G. Umi Kai of O'ahu, a crafter of implements, won a fellowship in the traditional arts category. He works in bone, wood, shark's teeth and other natural materials to create functional implements used in kahiko (ancient) days for such activities as fishing, poi pounding and martial arts. "This award recognizes my 'ohana, my hānai father and all the different organizations that I belong to that taught me," says Kai. His plan for the funds is to apprentice 10 students in three fields: makau (fishhooks), mea kaua (weapons) and pōhaku ku'i 'ai (poi pounders). While he acknowledges that he learned from many sources, he wants to teach his own style to the students for the year he is training them. "I will choose students who have already learned from me or who I have observed as having the ability and focus to listen and learn," says Kai. "The students will be between 18 to 30 years old, because I want to teach a new generation. These funds will help to buy tools for the students." Since 2010, the Native Arts and Culture Foundation has supported

136 Native artists and organizations in 26 states, whieh includes 14 national awards to Native Hawaiian organizations and artists. A second round of Native Hawaiian Artist Fellowships for 2016 will be based on NACF securing funding from its partners. For more information about NACF and its programs and fellowships, visit nativeartsandcultures.org. ■

Lwīine Waūana McGregor is a writer, television producer and author o/Between the Deep Blue Sea and Me.

These nine artists were also awarded fellowships:

DANCE Robert Cazimero Will choreograph a performance based on the epie tale of the goddess Pele, preparing a new mele for 20 dancers and five chanters. Vicky Holt īakamine Will develop new works in honor of Queen Lili'uokalani, through eollaboration wilh other kumu hula, hālau and storytellers to research and bring to life chants and hula composed by and for the queen. MUSIC Robi Kahakalau Will compose a collection of music and accompanying curriculum to teach Native Hawaiian preschool age children language and heritage through music, and compose, teach and record a collection of songs in Hawaiian to empower next generations of heritage language speakers through music. Kaumakaiwa Kanaka'ole Will create a series of hula and ha'a presentations based on the rituals of Ihe goddess Pele tradition from the Malaeha'aho'a text and will choreograph, collaborate and compose new chant verses and stage presentations to create bodies of work ready to tour in2016. Liko Martin Will complete new compositions, including a rock opera, and release new recordings, write new compositions, release a recording with Laulani Teale and issue a recording of original family compositions featuring his mother Marion Shim, Andy Cummings and Gabby Pahinui.

VISUAL ARTS Bernice Akamine Will complete Kalo, a traveling installation of 79 plants made of stone and newsprint to be exhibited in honor of Queen Lili'uokalani. Newsprint petals will be on eaeh plant featuring handwritten renditions of eaeh island's native boundaries, or ahupua'a, on one side, with copies of the hundreds of signed petitions against the U.S. annexation of Hawai'i on the other. Abigail Romanchak Will create a new series of largescale prints addressing climate change and sea-level rise due to global warming and will debutthe series in a group exhibition of Native Hawaiian artists at the Lower S axton State Museum in Hanover, Germany, in 2016. TRADITIONAL ARTS Marques Marzan Will revive the lost art of creating pe'ahi, the Hawaiian chiefly fan. There are only 20 known fans in existence, and the knowledge of how they were created has been lost. Marzan has studied the fans for years in preparation for the opportunity to revive the time-intensive art. ūalani Tanahy Will create a series of works exploring the continual innovations in kapa design from the time of contact with Western cultures to today. These new works will be featured in her first solo exhibition and will be presented as wearable art in a show with a working title of "Woman Makes the Malo Makes the Man" in Fall 2015.

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Abigail Romanchak

Bernice Akamine

Dalani Tanahy

Kaui Kanaka'ole

Kaumakaiwa Kanaka'ole

Liko Martin

Maika'i Tubbs

Marques Marzan

RoberT Cazimero

Robi Kahakalau

Umi Kai and wife Leinaala

Vicky Holt Takamine